1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to imaging apparatus such as printers and/or copiers, and more particularly to sheet media trays for such apparatus.
2. Background Art
Imaging apparatus such as printers and/or copiers typically use complex and expensive trays to hold sheets of image receiver media so that the sheets are accurately positioned for receiving images. The complexity of these trays often requires a different tray for each size of sheet used in the imaging apparatus. Thus, many sizes of trays must be purchased and stored when not in use. Other types of trays can be adjusted to receive different size sheets, but the adjustment process can be complicated and time consuming.
Typically, sheet media trays include complex mechanisms for biasing sheets upwardly, and have corner tabs to insure that only a single sheet is fed from the tray at a time. The tray itself is adapted to accurately locate the sheets both in a side-to-side direction and in a top-to-bottom direction, but in order to achieve the necessary alignment of the sheets to the sheet transport path internal to the imaging apparatus, manufacturing tolerances must be accurately maintained both in relation to the position of the tray to the internal sheet transport mechanisms of the imaging apparatus and in relation to the position of the sheets in the tray.